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Palo Verde is filled with clubs and students with unique and wonderful talents, and Polynesian club offers unique activities to students while fostering great relationships along the way.

Meeting every Monday from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm, Polynesian Club offers a place for students to dance, sing, learn the Polynesian culture and embrace who they are, whether Polynesian or not.

Polynesian Club has been around 12 years and was founded by a group of students who wanted a place to embrace their culture and express their traditions. While called Polynesian Club, the group wants students to know that they are there for all cultures and welcome all backgrounds to come and share who they are and the traditions they find at home.

“The three years I’ve been with this club have been the best because they (members) treat everyone like their family or our ‘ohana.’” is what made Alejandra Porras, the club’s president, grow to love the club.

Along with embracing culture and tradition, the Polynesian Club has organized “Stuff the Truck” last year to help underprivileged teens. The community service project is a week-long event in which people drop off their old clothes to be donated to the less fortunate, with the main goal being to stuff a big truck. On the last day, Polynesian Club parks the truck in the bus lane and takes donations for hours before dropping them off at donation centers.

It has become a staple for the club to organize this event because of how close it hits to home.

“It (Stuff the Truck) stemmed from one of our own members and a friend of mine who was neglected at home, she had to sell candy bars to pay for her own clothes, school supplies and more.” Alejandra stated on why she wanted to start the charity event.

“So when my advisor told us about the YNAPP grant the city gives out for community-based projects we thought of other kids that could be struggling like her”. The event first started last year and this year’s event is on April 14th from 11 am to 3 pm. Alejandra and the club “hope that we can keep this community service as an annual tradition and continue to help the students that need it.”

As well as looking for everyday clothes, this year the club is looking for dress clothes in preparation for the upcoming prom.

While Polynesian Club is not a large one, it’s always looking for more members and wants anyone who’s interested to come and check it out.

“The club as a whole will become your second family and will genuinely care about you. It’s not just watching Lilo and Stich and Moana, it’s learning one of the many beautiful cultures in the world through dance,” concluded Porras

The Polynesian club invites everyone to come out and give the club a try and be the next member of their ohana.